Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed a mixed trend due to investor concerns over the prevailing law and order situation in the country. BRIndex100 lost 1.94 points or 0.04 percent to close at 4,430.63 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,457.87 and an intraday low of 4,379.16 points. Volumes stood at 270.781 million shares. BRIndex30 closed at 23,247.92 points, up 37.19 points or 0.16 percent with a turnover of 206.978 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index gained 40.33 points to close at 41,649.36 points. Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 285.217 million shares as compared to 327.806 million shares traded Tuesday. Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $1.0 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 19 billion to Rs 8.321 trillion. Out of total 382 active scrips, 196 closed in negative, 171 in positive while the value of 15 stocks remained unchanged.
Pak Int. Bulk Terminal was the volume leader with 20.815 million shares. It gained Re 1.00 to close at Rs 12.36 followed by K-Electric that inched up by Re 0.06 to close at Rs 6.30 with 19.989 million shares. Pak Tobacco and Service Industries were the top gainers with Rs 92.49 and Rs 30.22, respectively to close at Rs 2,394.95 and Rs 741.22. Colgate Palmolive and Bata Pak were the top losers with Rs 110.99 and Rs 90.07, respectively to close at Rs 2,241.01 and Rs 1,711.37. BR Commercial Banks Index inched up by 1.45 points or 0.02 percent to close at 8,653.37 points with total turnover of 22.257 million shares.
BR Cement Index gained 8.09 points or 0.17 percent to close at 4,736.95 points with 54.681 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index lost 19.74 points or 0.36 percent to close at 5,432.54 points with 7.441 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index decreased by 11.38 points or 0.98 percent to close at 1,150.17 points with 21.983 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 8.92 points or 0.14 percent to close at 6,315.54 points with 21.358 million shares.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the KSE-100 index witnessed a choppy sessions where the market oscillated between plus 216 points and minus 372 points. Investors were mainly seen booking profits but at the same time they switched positions to different scrips and sectors. Steel and Cement sector scrips maintained investors' interest whereas Banks (HBL and UBL) and E&P sector lagged behind.
E&P sector saw decent volumes (mainly OGDC and PPL) but stock prices declined on the back of falling international crude oil prices. Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (up 29 points), Tobacco (up 24 points), Transport (up 21 points), Pharma (up 20 points), E&P (down 30 points) and Chemical (down 20 points).
Stocks that contributed positively include PAKT (up 24 points), SEARL (up 22 points), PIBTL (up 21 points), DAWH (up 17 points) and MLCF (up 13 points) while scripts that contributed negatively include LUCK (down 27 points), PPL (down 20 points), UBL (down 16 points), COLG (down 14 points), and HUBC (down 10 points).